Over the years there have been many attempts to provide compact tooth brushing kits. The desire for such a kit has grown as people travel more and eat more meals away from home. In addition, the increasingly popular, expensive, and long term cosmetic and orthodontal dentistry for children and adults need to be maintained. This investment and commitment comes with the ADA recommended care of your teeth: brushing after all meals for a minimum of 3 minutes per brushing. For all these smiling faces we are providing a compact sanitary, refillable, colorful, and easy to use all in one dental hygiene kit.
Prior patented devises have failed to meet this need. Cesari, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,741,667 and 4,759,381 describes a toothbrush, which combines a handle with a dispenser for tooth paste.
These devises have numerous disadvantages, including difficulties in refilling the tooth paste supply, drying of the paste and difficulty maintaining the brush and tooth paste in a sanitary state. Quite a number of prior art devices deliver tooth paste up through the neck of the brush, directly to the bristles. In such devices it is difficult to seal the paste from the brush, and hence, to maintain the cleanliness of the brush, or paste reservoir. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,527,574 a container of tooth paste is kept in the hollow handle, and must be completely removed therefrom in order to dispense tooth paste, and then returned to the hollow handle. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,482,263, a supply of tooth powder is kept within the handle of the brush. The handle folds transversely to bring the tooth powder in contact with the bristles. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,693,622 a container of tooth paste is combined with a folded brush head and recessed handle, such that the paste is dispensed onto the bristles, and then, the brushing head unfolded and neck extended; making it difficult to maintain, or even to use, the device while in a sanitary condition.
In contrast, the kit of the present invention permits and mediates the use of sanitary practices similar to those already used for a toothbrush and separate container of tooth paste. In addition, the kit is easily refillable, the toothpaste supply does not get dried out, and the brush is maintained in a sanitary condition away from the paste supply. In certain embodiments of the present invention, a commercially available tooth paste tube may be used in the device.